Mission Peak UU - Fremont, CA

The Home of Liberal Religion in the Tri-Cities and Beyond!

August 7, 2024

Dear Sandra,

Welcome to August, everyone!

Almost a year ago, you all welcomed my son and several of the other MPUUC children into our community with a beautiful dedication ceremony. Since then, he has been continuously invited in through programs like Children's Chapel, Parents' Night Out, and going to the nursery during regular service. It's been great to have such a wonderful community of people around him as he's blossomed into an amazing little toddler. 

Excited to see us all continue working together to make MPUUC into a great place for families of all shapes and sizes.

--Stephen

This Sunday's Service:

Service can be attended in-person at Cole Hall or online. See mpuuc.org/zoom each week for how to attend services.

We Don't Belong Here

In the dim mists of time long past, evolution took us from easy prey to top of the food chain. Stones, sticks and bones fashioned into multipliers of force put us there. Only there is not here. What we were and how we live now are in conflict. A conflict that leads to much of the woe in the world today. How can UUism and Mission Peak reconcile who we are with where we are? Can a spiritual practice take us to a place that is a better place?

Mark Rahman will lead the service and assisting will be Worship Associate Rev. Barbara Meyers. Steve Wallcave will be Worship Host. Jay and Jessica Steele will provide our music.

Whether you are attending services in Cole Hall or remotely, you can donate and/or fulfill your pledge in the 3 ways shown below:

Mail check to



Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation

P.O. Box 545

Fremont, CA 94537-0545

(If you use Bill Pay with your bank, you could use them to mail the check)

Drop envelope with a check in Mission Peak UU mail slot addressed to:

Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation

We will be collecting this once per week.

Pay on line at https://mpuuc.org/contact-us/donate/ with credit or debit card.

Note we use PayPal for this and they charge us around 3%.

Summer Special Collection for August: Sandwich Squad

Since 2013, our congregation has been offering help to the community through Sandwich Squad. People working to free themselves from addiction or violent spouses receive the sandwiches. Currently, Don Ramie is our Squad Leader and delivery person, and Ariel Smith-Iyer does the shopping and enlists people to help make the 100+ sandwiches on certain Sundays after service in the Cole Hall Kitchen. Adults at Mission Peak also volunteer to help. Our last sandwich making session we did in collaboration with the Narcotics Anonymous group that uses Cole Hall in the evenings. Wow- those folks were so fast, they really impressed us! This can also be a great activity for team building among Mission Peak committees and working groups. If you are interested in organizing your group to help make sandwiches together, please reach out to Don or Ariel to explore the possibilities. It's always fun and meaningful and we've been told by those organizations how much their clients appreciate the sustenance. Please donate, if you are able, to fund Sandwich Squad in one of these ways:

Write a check to MPUUC with “Sandwich Squad” in the memo line and mail to:

Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation

P.O. Box 545, Fremont, CA 94537-0545

(If you use Bill Pay with your bank, you could use them to mail the check)

Drop an envelope with a check (with “Sandwich Squad” on the memo line) or cash (with a note stating “Sandwich Squad”) in our mail slot addressed to: Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Pay online at https://mpuuc.org/contact-us/donate/ with credit or debit card. Choose “Special” as the donation type. Please state “For Sandwich Squad” in the message. Note we use PayPal for this, and they charge us around 3%

CIRCLE OF LIFE

Each week, we post the previous Sunday’s Joys and Concerns that we were given permission to share. We encourage you to make room in your heart for the hopes and fears of your fellow members.  Reach out to celebrate and console those you care about. Here are the Joys and Concerns for the past 4 weeks. If you would like your joy or concern to appear in the Wheel of Life, contact the Encouragement Committee at ecteam@mpuuc.org

Midweek Discussion Group

The Minister’s Midweek Discussion Group meets on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m.The Midweek Discussion Group welcomes all voices who wish to participate in discussion on interesting topics. The link to the conversation can be found if you Press here

Potluck and art / game night in Cole Hall

Saturday, August 24th from 5:30-8pm

We'll have an art project to play with, as well as a variety of games. Feel free to bring your own game if you have one you want to play.

RSVP at this link if you know you can come, but if life changes or you don't get to rsvp, no worries- just come!

Email Ariel dre@mpuuc.org if you have questions.

Dates to mark on your calendar: 

Saturday, Aug 24th potluck and art/game night in Cole Hall

Saturday, Sept 7th 30th Anniversary celebration Cole Hall

Saturday, Sept 21st International Day of Prayer for Peace w/ TriCity Interfaith Council (TCIC) time and location TBD

Saturday, Nov 2nd Diwali dinner/celebration Cole Hall

Friday, Nov 29th Green Friday BYO picnic lunch in Coyote Hills

Saturday, Dec 14th 3rd annual Cookies and Carols party in Cole Hall

Monday, Jan 20th MLK Jr Day of Service time and location TBD

We had a wonderful meet-up the Sunday before last in a great park in Sunnyvale hosted by our UU friends from the Sunnyvale Fellowship. It's our turn to host them next month on Saturday 8/17 from 9:30-11:30 in Central Park here in Fremont. We'll set up our pop-top tent and have coffee and snacks to share. Please come if you can, no RSVP necessary. See the flyer below for more details. Info on our website.

Sign the Petition

Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

Sign the Petition to Urge Congress to Protect Our Freedom to Vote

It’s been exactly 59 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Act — the landmark legislation that helped to protect voters of color from racially discriminatory voting practices.

But in 2013, the Supreme Court gutted one of its core protections and made it easier for states to restrict the right to voting — especially for people of color. (Continue reading) 

Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression Committee (ARO) Recommendations

Voter Mobilization Keynote with Andrea Miller

Tuesday, September 10

7:30pm ET - 6:30pm CT - 5:30pm MT - 4:30pm PT

RSVP; Online

Andrea Miller is the Founding Board Member of the Center for Common Ground (CCG) and an inspirational, unwavering fighter for racial justice and voting rights. Reclaim our Vote, popular among UUs, is a CCG project.

Andrea will discuss plans during 2024 for getting out the vote (GOTV) in key states, both on the ground and remotely. We will learn more about postcarding, texting, phone banking, and other opportunities with CCG to support UU voter engagement efforts.

Most of all, we will leave with a sense of commitment and enthusiasm for the work ahead of us.

Andrea Miller, Sept 10

8th Principle Learning

Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative/ Indian Affairs 

In June 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative(link is external), a comprehensive effort to recognize the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies with the goal of addressing their intergenerational impact and to shed light on the traumas of the past.

federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative

“The report updates the list of schools to 417 across 37 states or territories and confirms that at least 973 children died while attending the schools. It inventories the religious organizations which assisted the Federal Government in running the schools. 

The Montana Industrial School, “The Bond Mission School”, was run by the Unitarians, was located in Bose, Montana and meets the criteria established by the BIA to be defined as a Federal Boarding School.” 8th Principle UU Learning Community

Making announcements

If you’ve ever had an announcement you wanted to share about an upcoming MPUUC

event or meeting but didn’t know how, you’re in luck. This Announcement Sheet will

go directly to Sandra, our Administrator (to put in the OOS); or to a Board Member (to

announce at a Sunday service. Deadline for posting Sunday announcements is

Thursday at 5pm.

Call your Elected Officials! 

Calls can make a difference! Contact your representatives to alert them to your views!

Assembly Member Alex Lee 408-262-2501

Representative Eric Swalwell 510-247-1388 or go to house.gov 

Representative Ro Khanna (202) 225-2631 

Senator Alex Padilla (202) 224-3553